Yesudas in India

K.J. Yesudas has been in the news lately, after keeping a low profile. The singer, who has been honoured with Padmashri, and who has now settled in the US, is in India. He was seen judging the contestants in the popular musical show Sa Rr Ga Ma, where he even enthralled the audience by singing his hits. And recently he was in Mumbai, for a private performance at the Aiyappa Temple in a suburb.

The singer from South had become quite a sensation in the 70s, when he sang many a hits for Rajshri Films and Basu Chatterji-directed films, about common man and his dreams. His songs from Chitchor, namely Gori tera gaon bada pyara was a craze, besides giving him another National award for best singer.

But the singer disappeared from the Hindi film music scene just as fast as he had appeared, leaving his fans disappointed. Yesudas says that it was mainly due to the politics in the Hindi film scene, and his lack of PR, which made him quit singing Hindi film songs. And the singer feels that he won’t fit in today’s music scene, since songs today lack soul. But he also adds that he will still take up an offer for a Hindi film song if it’s challenging, and not frivolous.

Settled in US, Yesudas doesn’t want to try his hand at World Music, which is the in thing, since he feels fusing two genres of music kills both styles. Instead, he says he’d rather stick to Carnatic and devotional music. A good news for his fans is that the singer’s private album titled Geetanjali will be released in January.

Politicians can sing too
A recently-shot episode of the musical show on Star Plus, Chalti Ka Naam Antakshari, in Delhi, made a lot of waves. The reason being that it had as its participants film personalities and politicians, of which the politicians’ lot proved to be more enthusiastic. Amar Singh paired up with actress and ex-swimming champion Nafisa Ali to belt out the latest Hindi film hits, while the charismatic Vasant Sathe crooned the golden oldies with firebrand Renuka Choudhary. Cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad teamed up with Maya Alagh, and sang the sesuous Roop tera mastana.

Sathe proved to be a good singer, with his deep voice, while Singh sang out-of-tune, and yet got the highest score for his team. Other politicians present included Uma Bharti, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Law Minister Arun Jaitley. Among the film personalities present included Subhash Ghai, David Dhawan, Satish Kaushik, Mink and Deepti Bhatnagar.

Actor-filmmaker Sachin, who co-hosts the show with Shruti Ulfat, said that it was fun to have the politicians on the show, and watch them sing without any inhibitions.

First jail sentence for copyright violation
In the first jail sentence handed down in a case of Copyright violation, Yogesh Joshi, owner of Lehar Music Corner, in Nagpur, was convicted to three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5,000/- by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Nagpur. The accused was found guilty of recording and selling pirated cassettes in violation of Sec. 52 A of the Copyright Act. The Magistrate, in his order, also noted that piracy was becoming a serious global problem, and the legislature, while amending the Copyright Act in 1984, had imposed stiff penalties for copyright violations, so as to deter offenders. This sentence, the first sentence handed down by a court in Maharashtra, is a major victory in IMI’s fight against piracy. It is hoped that with more such convictions, offenders will be deterred from this illegal activity which currently results in losses of over Rs. 300 crores annually to the music industry.

Another case of audio piracy
The police, with the help of an informant discovered the piracy of T-series songs of Farz. The anti-piracy team succeeded in raiding the places, and Mehboob Qasim Mussavar was arrested, and property worth Rs. 3,98,400/- was seized, which includes cassettes, inlay cards, IC boxes, speakers & recording machines.

Christina looks to Puffy for next album
Christina Aguilera is planning her next album, which she hopes to begin recording in February. “I’m getting many, many ideas for the next record,” Aguilera said, “I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it and really get going on it, because it’s going to be a whole different project. I’m really excited to get into it.”

Aguilera plans to reach out to some high profile production help to shake things up. “I’ll have a lot of different collaborations,” Aguilera said, “I’m going to be working with a lot of people. Puffy (Combs) actually called me the other day to get on it, and I’d love to be working with Timbaland too, and a lot of different producers.”

A spokesperson for Aguilera’s record label, RCA, confirmed that Aguilera spoke to Combs, and that she would work with multiple producers on the album. Aguilera said she plans to release the album in spring or summer, and that she plans to support it with a world tour.

The singer also said she will take January off, probably in a sun-drenched locale, such as Jamaica or Puerto Rico.